Monday, October 31, 2016

Evolve 58 Review

Evolve kicks off WrestleMania Weekend in a big way, as Will Ospreay & Zack Sabre Jr. have a Match Of The Year Contender!!

This
was the opening show of the 2016 WWNLive Experience at Eddie Deen’s Ranch in
Dallas, Texas, which was the site for WrestleMania
32. WWNLive was putting on several shows over the course of this big
weekend, featuring promotions like Evolve, CZW, SHIMMER, and Kaiju Big Battel.
The weekend would conclude with a WWNLive SuperShow, but before we get to some
of those other shows, let’s get to Evolve 58!

Before
the match begins, Galloway & Gargano cut a promo about the huge crowd
that’s turned out for the event. It was easily the biggest crowd for a show
that Evolve has ever had. Gargano then introduces Kota Ibushi (who was going to
be wrestling in the Main Event of the WWNLive SuperShow: Mercury Rising 2016) as their corner man for this match.
While the Evolve Tag Team Titles are on the line here, there was also the
stipulation that Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley could never team again if they
won the titles here. Now this match was marred with pretty bad streaming issues
during the live iPPV itself, which I think hampered any and all initial
opinions of the match. However, when watching it back, with no streaming
issues, I actually thought it was a really good match. Galloway & Gargano
continued to improve as a team with each match. Plus, for what proved to be
their final outing as a team, Nese & Konley looked very good here. The
match was hurt a little bit, however, by a very weird finish. Apparently, they
forgot to have the ring bell set up at ringside, so when Gargano made Konley
tap out to the GargaNo Escape, the bell never rang. This caused a ton of
confusion, and Gargano just put Konley in a hold again, and made him tap out
again. There was still no bell, and the referee just raised Gargano’s hand
anyway. It was a weird finish, without question, but it was still a really good
match. I’m just happy that The Premiere Athlete Brand is evidently finished.

After
the match, Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway brought a fan (who just so
happened to be a particularly well-known wrestling Twitter personality), and
re-enacted the original finish of the match in hilarious fashion.

Matt
Riddle then came out, and demanded that his match against Timothy Thatcher for
the Evolve Title take place right now! Thatcher comes out, and it looks like
we’re getting out second title match of the night in the second match on the
show!

2.)
Evolve Title – Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle: **3/4

This
was a very….interesting match, to say the least. Firstly, I’m happy that this
match got more time than their first encounter at Evolve 56. I thought the first half of the match was fine, but
relatively uninspiring. They did their grappling and whatnot, but it was just
kind of there. The second half of the match, however, really picked up, and it
looked like we were going to get a very good match between these two.
Unfortunately, the finish was an absolute downer. Basically, Riddle had
Thatcher in a submission hold. Thatcher got the ropes, but Riddle wrenched it
in even harder. He screamed in pain, and rolled to the floor. After checking on
Thatcher, the referee called for the bell, and signaled for medical help for
the Evolve Champion. Riddle grabbed the title and began celebrating as if he
had won, but apparently, he hadn’t won. The match was declared a no contest by
the referee, with his reasoning being that Riddle didn’t abide by the rope
break. They had something positive going, and then they absolutely ruined it
with the finish. The match was still relatively ok, but it was another poorly
booked Timothy Thatcher title defense.

3.)
Marty Scurll vs. Fred Yehi: ***1/4

Also
known as “The Villain”, Marty Scurll is making his Evolve debut here. Of
course, he’s become a big name in the exploding UK independent scene, along
with Will Ospreay. Here, Scurll has a very unique opponent in the form of Fred
Yehi. These two had a pretty solid match, in my opinion. Both guys really stand
out, and I think they meshed well here. It wasn’t a very long match (going just
under ten minutes or so), but it featured some good action throughout, and it
was a solid debut for Marty Scurll. As a whole, it was just an enjoyable match.
No real complaints from me. In the end, Scurll would get the submission victory
with the Crossface Chicken Wing.

4.)
“All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Sami Callihan: ***1/2

Page
is still trying to redeem himself in the eyes of fans, Evolve officials, and
more specifically, Johnny Gargano. He’s taking on Sami Callihan, who will be
challenging for the Evolve Title at Mercury
Rising 2016. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from these two, but they
ended up putting together a very good match. It was pretty much a sprint right
from the opening bell, as Callihan went right after Page. I think that ended up
really helping this match, as I think a sprint plays more to Callihan’s
strengths. It was just a very entertaining match as a whole with some very good
back & forth action. The only negative aspect of the match was that (I
think) Callihan added some disgusting loogies to some of his chops, which was
just gross. Callihan would eventually get the win here, building momentum
towards his upcoming shot at the Evolve Title.

5.)
Ricochet vs. TJ Perkins: ****

There
were so many awesome matches scheduled during this massive weekend in Dallas
(as a whole, not just in Evolve/WWNLive) that I think a number of matches got
overlooked, or didn’t exactly get the buzz that it deserved. This was
definitely one of those matches. I didn’t realize how excited I was to see
these two go at it until they were in the ring for the start of the match. I
thought this was a great match. These two are just so amazing, that it’s
impossible for them to have anything less than a really good match. Ricochet,
of course, was super entertaining, with his personality and high-flying, while
TJ Perkins showed off his incredible technical ability. There was some really good
action throughout this match. Both guys just make things look so smooth and so
easy in the ring. TJ Perkins worked over one of Ricochet’s legs over the course
of the match, and that paid off in a very cool finish, as Ricochet’s leg
buckled on a Shooting Star Press attempt, and TJ Perkins quickly capitalized,
getting a shocking submission victory over Ricochet.

After
the match, we got another shocker, as Stokely Hathaway (who was still part of
ROH as the manager of Moose) came out with some paperwork in a binder. TJ
Perkins signs the papers, and Hathaway announced that TJ Perkins has just signed
on to The Dream Team (which I guess is supposed to be a “talent agency”). He
then calls out Triple H, and says that he needs to sign TJ Perkins, who
Hathaway is now referring to as “TJP” (for marketing purposes) for the WWE
Global Cruiserweight Series/Cruiserweight Classic. It wasn’t really made clear
whether this meant that TJ Perkins was done with Catch Point or not, but it
would be cleared up later, as he would (essentially) be part of both Catch
Point and The Dream Team. I wasn’t really sure what to make of this whole thing
at the time, but as we would all see over the next several months, the pairing
would prove to be a big hit.

6.)
Best In The World Challenge Series – Match #3– Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay:
****3/4

This
is the third match in Zack Sabre Jr.’s Best In The World Challenge Series. He’s
2-0 thus far, earning victories over Johnny Gargano and Drew Gulak at Evolve 56 & Evolve 57, respectively. Here, he’s taking on fellow British
sensation in Will Ospreay. I thought this was as awesome match!! It was filled
with incredible action from start to finish. These two have amazing chemistry
with each other, and it really produced and unforgettable match. The action was
breathtaking from start to finish, and the crowd was going absolutely berserk.
This was easily one of the best matches of the entire weekend in Dallas, and
one of the best matches in all of 2016. If you haven’t seen this match already,
you need to go check this match out. Zack Sabre Jr. would eventually get the
submission victory over Ospreay, moving to 3-0 in his Best In The World
Challenge Series.

After
the match, while Zack Sabre Jr. & Will Ospreay are embracing in the ring
(to a thunderous applause), Chris Hero & Tommy End interrupt them. Hero
congratulates Zack Sabre Jr. on his performance, but reminds him that he has
yet to beat The Greatest of All Time. Zack Sabre Jr. responds by slapping here,
and says that will change tomorrow. After he leaves, Tommy End takes the mic,
and talks about how great of a striker he is. He says that he’s going to beat
TJ Perkins, before going on to be known as the man who knocks out Kota Ibushi.
Hero then calls out Catch Point for the Main Event.

Catch
Point is getting a shot at the Evolve Tag Team Titles the next day at Evolve 59, but before that, they
overcome a big obstacle here in the form of Chris Hero & Tommy End who, in
their few appearances as a team, have proven to be an absolutely brutal tandem.
As a whole, I thought this was a really good match, with some solid action
throughout from all four guys. However, I did have some minor issues with it.
Firstly, the match went a lot longer than I think it needed to. This didn’t
need go twenty-seven minutes. Secondly, I don’t believe it was the right
decision to put this on last. As I said, the match was really good, but it had
no chance of matching the incredible Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay match that
came before it. Finally, I thought the finish seemed to come a bit out of
nowhere. I don’t have any issue with Catch Point winning, as they were
challenging for the Evolve Tag Team Titles the next day, but it just seemed odd
that Heroes Eventually Die had been hitting these devastating double teams,
only for Gulak to just get the victory over End with a dragon sleeper. Still
with all of that being said, this match was still really good, and for all of
its faults, I enjoyed it.

After
the match, Chris Hero seemingly walked out on Tommy End, while Stokely Hathaway
told TJP (who was out at ringside with Catch Point) to come to the back with
him while Catch Point was celebrating their victory.

Overall: 8.5/10

Evolve,
as a whole, had a relatively good start to their WrestleMania Weekend in Dallas. The show did get off to a shaky
start, with issues in two title matches that opened the show, as one was
hampered by a missing ring bell, while the other was ruined with really
questionable booking. Both of those matches weren’t necessarily bad (the opener
was actually very good), but those issues did overshadow them, without
question. Fortunately, the show got gradually better from there. Scurll/Yehi
was good, Callihan/Page was really good, Ricochet/TJP was great, Zack Sabre Jr./Will
Ospreay was a legitimate MOTYC, and Heroes Eventually Die/Catch Point was also
really good. Even though I think the last two matches should have been switched
around, this was still a very good show from Evolve, and I would say it’s (for
the most part) worth checking out.